Merck Study from 1993

[mariobros]

I tried to see if this was already posted here on the forum but couldn’t find it so i apologize if i am rehashing old territory.

Alot of this stuff is not anything we here on the site don’t know already but this study may be useful in light of recent events.

This is a study of finasteride from 1993 funded by Merck, it relates to BPH but the interesting thing is that they used both 1mg and 5mg tablets and the results between the two were so similar that they decided it wasn’t even worth differentiating in the results between the two doses and combined them as one group.

So by Merck’s own admission 1mg is exactly the same as taking 5mg of finasteride. And yet somehow when it came time to perform a clinical trial for alopecia they were able to show that at a dose of 1mg they magically saw a reduction in side effects to 1.8%. As i said this is nothing new just another one to add to the pile.

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[Size=4]The influence of finasteride on the volume of the peripheral and periurethral zones of the prostate in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia[/size]

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pros.2990220106/abstract

Abstract
To determine the influence of androgen deprivation induced by the potent 5α-reductase inhibitor finasteride on the volume of the zones of the prostate, 20 symptomatic men with established BPH were randomized to one of three groups: placebo, finasteride 1 mg, and finasteride 5 mg/day. The volume of the entire prostate gland, periurethral zone, and peripheral zone and the seminal vesicles were determined by three dimensional reconstructions of magnetic resonance contoured images of the prostate. [Size=4]There was no significant difference between the results achieved with 1 and 5 mg of finasteride per day; thus the results in these two groups were combined.[/size] In the placebo group there was no significant change in the volume of any structure. Following treatment for 1 year with finasteride there was a significant (P <0.02) 17% decrease in total gland size (11.5 ± 3.2 cc). Similarly, there was a significant (P <0.03) decrease in the size of the periurethral zone of the prostate (6.2 ± 3 cc). Although there was also a decrease in the size of the peripheral zone of the prostate (2.8 ± 1.2 cc) this did not reach statistical significance. There was no significant change in the volume of the seminal vesicles. These findings indicate for the first time that androgen deprivation induces a significant decrease in the size of the periurethral zone of the prostate in men with established BPH. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Funded by
Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, New Jersey

Edit: If anyone has access to the complete article it would be interesting to look further into it i’m sure.